Never Could be Sweeter
by salem2393
Summary: He finds her, and she finds him, and it never could be sweeter.
1. Chapter 1

So… this is my first Walking Dead fic, and I gotta admit I haven't written fic in quite a few years. But I just can't accept that Beth is dead and I gotta write about my feelings. So I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to let me know how I can make it better! (I'd also love an editor, so message me if you're interested in editing.) The title is a reference to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros' song "Home"

"Laugh until we think we'll die,

Barefoot on a summer night

Never could be sweeter than with you"

xxx

It was a particularly cold afternoon and Daryl needed to get away, being huddled in the small church with the whole group was slowly driving him mad. The past four months had been a blur of moving further north towards Virginia, and setting up camp somewhere in the hills of North Carolina for the winter. The time went by with little to no incidents and Daryl thought to himself as he walked away from the church, he wouldn't have cared much if there had been. Since the events at Grady Memorial he couldn't bring himself to care about much of anything. Hunting helped, it helped him forget about everything he had lost when he could sink himself into hunter mode; thinking of nothing other than survival. The worst was when he had nothing to do at the church and would let his mind wonder.

Daryl loaded his cross bow as he walked into the woods, stepping lightly over the fallen leaves on the ground as and beginning to look for animal tracks. Within no time Daryl had caught a belt-full of squirrels and even two rabbits, he looked up after dressing the last rabbit and noticed the sky was beginning to turn pink as the sun started to set. He didn't want to be out in the woods in the dark so he decided to pack up and call it a day. As he knelt down to wipe his hunting knife on his pants, It was then that he heard it, a twig snapping a few feet behind him. He whirled around, and pulled his knife up into a position ready to throw. When he faced the figure who had made the noise the knife in his hand fell to the ground with a thud and his mouth hung open in shock.

"Beth…" Her name tore from his throat like sob. "Beth what're you… how?" He stuttered, his feet stumbling beneath him as he moved toward her. Four months had gone by since he had seen her face, and her glimmering hair. Four months since he watched as Rick and Glen shoveled dirt onto her body; and four months since he had placed one of his cross bow bolts and an empty moonshine bottle on her makeshift grave.

He looked at her. Directly at her now, amazed, bewildered and slightly terrified. She looked awfully thin, thinner than he had ever seen her. Her eyes were wide, and her hair which was once long and beautiful was cut short like Carol's and matted with dirt. Finally as he stepped towards her she gasped his name and collapsed into his arms, pulling him towards the ground as she crumpled like a leaf. Daryl caught her fall and wrapped himself around her as he lifted her up. She was so much lighter than she had been when he carried her across the graveyard to that funeral home months ago.

As he adjusted her in his arms he could tell she was unconscious, "Beth… it's gonna be a'right…" he mumbled under his breath, determined to get the girl to safety. He struggled to pick up his knife for a moment without putting Beth down and when he stood up again he let out yet another surprised breath.

"I don't want any trouble…" Daryl muttered quickly, his arms tightening on Beth protectively. "I'm just tryin' to get back to my people."

"Put the girl down, she's with me." The stranger said slowly, his hand moving towards the gun strapped to his side. He was wearing a hooded coat and scarf, every part of his body covered except for his face, and he was clearly carrying more weapons than Daryl.

"I know her, and I'm takin' her back to her family." He said with determination.

"Family?"

"Yeah…" Daryl grumbled, "Her sister thinks she's dead…We all thought she was gone…" The stranger pulled down his hood and fixed Daryl with an amused smile.

"You with Rick?" He asked cautiously, taking his hand off of his weapon and stepping forward.

Daryl tensed again, not wanting to give too much away to this man he had never met. "You a friend of Ricks?" He asked, shifting Beth into a more comfortable position in his arms.

"You could say that." The man explained, "I don't know if he's mentioned me, but I'm Morgan."

The name rang a bell for Daryl, He knew Morgan had been the first person Rick ran into after waking up in the hospital, but he didn't know if he was a good person or not.

"Look, I've gotta get Beth to the group, she's obviously not in good shape." Daryl said slowly, weighing his options. "I guess you've been taking care of her, so I gotta trust you a little…" Morgan cut him off,

"I wouldn't do anything to hurt Rick or his people." Morgan stated, "You can trust me."

Daryl shrugged and nodded, "C'mon then." He said, turning and beginning the trek back to the church.


	2. Chapter 2

Ah, guys I am so glad you all like this story and I love everyone for giving me feedback, I'll be updating a bit more regularly for the next few weeks I think since it's the Christmas holiday! So without further ado, here's chapter two!

xxx

He kept Morgan in front of him every step of the way back to camp, watching him nervously, still not yet trusting him. Occasionally he glanced down at Beth, he couldn't let himself believe she was really there in his arms, not until she was out of immediate danger and safe back at the camp

"Turn left" Daryl instructed Morgan when they passed the tree Rick had marked witch was one of a few scattered close by the church as landmarks so no one got lost. "We're nearly there Greene." He added in a whisper, allowing himself to rub his rough thumb over her shoulder where he held her. The feeling of her ragged shirt over her boney but very much real and alive arm made his heart skip a little and his stomach flip nervously. Despite his best efforts he felt a little of the hope he had lost four months ago trickling back.

"The church is just up ahead through those trees" Daryl said after a little while of walking when he could see the edge of the forest. He sped up to walk beside Morgan, wanting whoever was on watch to know they were together.

When they cleared the trees and stepped into the field surrounding the church Daryl could see Glenn from across the field lift a pair of binoculars to his eyes before he ran towards them.

"What's going on?" He breathed raggedly when he reached the trio, eyeing Beth and Morgan. "Is...is she alive?" Daryl nodded slowly, glancing at Morgan.

"Go get Rick to deal with him" he said gruffly, continuing to carry Beth up to the steps of the Church, where Carl and Carol had gathered, leaving Glenn and Morgan behind. "Clear off a cot for her" he barked at carl.

Then his eyes found Maggie, she was standing just inside the doors with her hands over her mouth and tears welling up in her eyes. Daryl knew how she felt, shocked and scared and confused. But he had to act strong until he was sure that Beth was safe, and he had to keep his composure in case the girl in his arms woke up; he didn't want her to see how shaken he was by her sudden reappearance.

Maggie rushed to their side as he put beth down gently on the cot, and as Daryl stepped back the older Greene sister dropped to her knees beside the younger. "Maggie I don't know what happened but Rick will find out," he explained before She could ask. "I dunno what she needs Maggie, what can I do to help?" He mumbled, feeling Maggie's emotions affect the control he had over his own.

"Get water, " she said with out looking up from her sister's face as she felt the blonde's forehead with the back of her hand. "She's definitely dehydrated, also check if we've got anything with electrolytes like sports drinks and stuff."

Daryl nodded and gave Beth another long glance before walking into the back room to rummage through bags looking for what Maggie wanted. This was good, if he had something to keep him occupied he wouldn't start worrying and getting all sappy. He eventually found a powdered sports drink as well as a packet of painkillers and two capsules of antibiotics and when water bottle was full he returned to Beth and Maggie who had been joined by Rick and Morgan.

"What's goin' on?" Daryl asked as he set the supplies down beside the bed and placed the water bottle in Maggie's hands. "How's she doin'?" Maggie glanced up at him and shook her head,

"well she's still not awake..." She sighed with a shrug. Then Daryl looked up to Rick nodding slightly towards Morgan.

"Morgan says he found her when he was tracking us, he's been on our trail for months, I guess we finally gave him time to catch up by stoppin' at the church for the winter" Rick explained.

"I must've come across her grave only a few days after yall left, I had to know if I was trackin' the right group, so I dug her up, thinkin' it might be someone in your group I recognized." Morgan said looking at Daryl as if he owed him an explanation. " I didn't recognize her at first but I could tell she sure as hell wasn't dead."

Daryl could have screamed, how could he have been so dumb, how could he have left Beth there to die, what was wrong with him?

"She was... Shot..." He stammered, finally being consumed with confusion and frustration. It would have been his fault if Morgan hadn't of saved her, and he hated himself for it. Morgan nodded,

"She was unconscious but breathing, when I opened the coffin" he continued, and Daryl remembered that "coffin" it had been scrap wood he pulled from a rundown shack and nailed together into a makeshift box. "I carried her back to where I had been a few days before because there was a woman there who I knew was a doctor, she bandaged Beth up and we stayed with them for a few weeks, it took a while for Beth to wake up and be healthy enough to travel but when she did she didn't remember much of anything. She knew who Rick was and she told me her sister and friends were probably with him" Morgan looked between Maggie and Daryl as he said this.

"So ya kept trackin' us?" Rick asked "by the tree markings?" Morgan nodded,

"I'm surprised we caught up so fast, yall got pretty far in those last two months"

"We've been set up here for about a month" Daryl said, stepping towards Morgan and placing his hand on the man's shoulder briefly. Daryl felt he should thank him but he didn't know how to. Instead he decided it was best if he gave Maggie some space to nurse her sister back to health so he walked out of the church and seated himself on the steps. Beth was safe now, he didn't need to be beside her, even if he wanted to be. But he'd just get in the way he thought.

"You alright?" Daryl heard from behind him, he turned and saw Carol leaning against the porch railing.

"'M fine." He grumbled not wanting to have a feelings talk like Carol was prone to do. "Just glad she's back" he mumbled under his breath turning back to face the woods. It felt good to say it, _she's back, _he thought over and over again.

"You don't seem so glad" carol sighed as she moved closer to him.

"Well I am" he muttered.

"It's not your fault, we all thought she was dead" Carol said, giving Daryl a knowing look as she walked back into the church. Daryl huffed in annoyance and ran his hands over his face. It sure felt like it was his fault. And he wasn't quite ready to forgive himself, at least not until the young blonde woke up.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three is a bit shorter than usual, but I didn't want to over complicate it. So here you go:

xxx

Beth slowly reached her hand up to her temple where the throbbing pain resided. As she held her head she realized it was resting on what felt like a feather pillow, and that she was in fact extremely comfortable aside from the headache. Finally she decided to open her eyes. She was laying towards the middle of a large room which looked like a church, but the pews had been removed and the stained glass had been replaced with tarps and plywood. Judging by the darkness it was night time, and as her eyes adjusted to the dark she noticed a figure in the chair beside her bed.

"M-Maggie...?" She murmured, reaching out and putting her hand on her sisters knee. "Maggie, wake up" she urged, shaking her knee softly.

Maggie's eyes flew open and when she saw Beth awake a huge smile cracked across her face.

"Beth!" She exclaimed, lunging forward and wrapping her arms around her sister. As she hugged Maggie Beth looked over her sisters shoulder and saw a familiar silhouette standing in the shadow by the door.

"Daryl..." She muttered as she pulled away from Maggie, and as soon as she said his name he strode across the length of the room, and knelt beside the bed. Beth flung herself at him, her arms went around his shoulders and her face settled into the crook of his neck. She felt his hands nervously find places on her back, and he held herself against him tightly.

"Miss me?" She whispered.

xxx

Daryl was standing by the doors, he couldn't sleep knowing that Beth could possibly wake up at any moment. Every little noise had him on edge, his head swiveling to look at her sleeping form across the dark room every thirty seconds. Then he heard it, her voice as sweet and soft as ever,

"Maggie" she whispered, the voice he thought he would never hear again was as a familiar as if he had heard it yesterday. And then he caught her eyes, and heard his own name escape her lips, it only took him three big steps to cross the room and he sunk down in front of the young blonde.

Before he knew it she was wrapped around him, holding him around the neck tightly, and nuzzling gently at the side of his throat. His heartbeat sped up and he tentatively slid his hands up her back, he never wanted to let her go again he thought, but then she murmured,

"Miss me?" And he laughed, something he hadn't done in months.

"Of course" he chuckled before he caught Maggie's suspicious glare. Quickly he leaned back, pulling out of Beth's embrace. It had been so easy when it had been just he and Beth alone in the woods months ago but he suddenly felt very uncomfortable with Maggie watching them interact.

"Beth,"Maggie started, putting her hand protectively on Beth's shoulder " I'm so happy you're home, I... I missed you so much" she murmured, and Beth smiled so wide Daryl felt it making himself smile. He sat there as he watched Maggie pass the water bottle to her sister, and as Beth drank it eagerly. When she put the bottle down she looked over at him.

"You just gonna stare?" She asked playfully as if she hadn't been dead to them for months.

"Can't help it.." He mumbled quietly, his eyes darting nervously to Maggie then back to Beth. It was quiet for a moment as Beth took another sip of water, then he jumped a bit, startled by her hand covering his on the edge of the cot. Daryl could practically feel Maggie's eyes boring a hole through him as she watched Beth hold his hand.

xxx

Daryl spent the rest of the night at the side of Beth's bed, only moving when Maggie retired to her own cot on the other side of the room. As he took Maggie's chair Beth rolled onto her side to look up at him.

"You alright?" She whispered softly. Daryl nodded slowly even though his mind was racing. "What's wrong?" Beth questioned, fixing Daryl with a knowing look.

"Nothin' Beth" he snapped immediately. He knew he couldn't fool her though, she knew him too well. "I'm just tryin' to adjust" he added.

"Adjust to what?" She asked scooting a little closer to Daryl, trying to catch his eyes.

"Ya know what." He muttered with a shrug, finally looking up and meeting her gaze. There was a long moment of silence, before a tiny smile crossed her face. "What're ya smiling about?" Daryl sighed.

"Just happy" she murmured, fidgeting with her bracelet. Daryl smirked slightly before he stood up,

"Yeah me too" he agreed, patting Beth on the shoulder quickly. "Now get some sleep, every one will be askin' ya a million questions tomorrow" Beth nodded and laid her head back on the pillow as Daryl started to walk over to the sofa where he slept

"Daryl" she said quietly, stopping him in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder,

"Yeah?"

"Goodnight" she whispered, and Daryl smiled to himself as he continued across the room.


End file.
